Boxee Opens Beta To All 163
DeviceGuru writes "Boxee has quietly moved its long-awaited Beta release onto its public download site, reports OpenBoxeeBox.com. The new version of this free Internet- and local- A/V streaming player currently supports PCs running Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Ubuntu OSes, with an Apple TV version coming soon. Key enhancements include a vastly redesigned homescreen and new global menu, which collectively make it much quicker to locate content, an improved search function that now treats online and local media equivalently, so you can locate and play movie or TV show titles much faster, plus — at long last — a fully functional Netflix instant-downloads player appears in the Windows version (but not in the Linux version). Also of significance is that Boxee's graphical engine has migrated from from OpenGL to DirectX, allowing it to take advantage of Direct X video acceleration. The free public Boxee Beta A/V player software is available on Boxee's website."
The article forgot to mention (Score:2, Informative)
It supports not only Windows XP, but Vista and 7, but only 32-bit versions.
In contrast it supports Ubuntu 64-bit.
Re:DirectX on Linux? (Score:2, Informative)
VLC has long supported various output APIs, mostly because on different platforms, different APIs have varying levels of driver support and varying performance. I imagine this is similar.
Re:The article forgot to mention (Score:5, Informative)
It supports not only Windows XP, but Vista and 7, but only 32-bit versions.
In contrast it supports Ubuntu 64-bit.
To clarify, you can absolutely run 32-bit Boxee on a 64-bit version of Windows, so it technically supports 64-bit Windows Vista and 7. They just don't provide a native 64-bit version of Boxee.
Re:DirectX on Linux? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Damn it. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Damn it. (Score:1, Informative)
ive about given up on linux for the time being. i love some things about it, and used it for a while. but between school and entertainment...its just not worth booting into. i cant watch my blu ray movies, streaming netflix movies, play my games, or run visual studio and dreamweaver properly in WINE. office 2007 worked at one point. in addition, when i tried debian it was a bitch to get my hardware going....when i tried ubuntu, hardware worked but getting sleep or hibernate was iffy, nevermind the other issues i already mentioned.
its just not a good fit for me right now. i wish it was, i far prefer compiz to the interface of windows 7.
Re:GNU/Ubuntu (Score:4, Informative)
Nope, not Linux.
Nope, it's just not available to Linux at large. It's not open source. You can download an Ubuntu .deb of the binaries, but if you want to run it another distribution? Sorry, Charlie.
Re:What exactly is boxee good for??? (Score:3, Informative)
Boxee gives you a 10 foot interface. It provides a nice interface to websites like Hulu, TV.com, and things like cnet TV.
It also supports audio and video podcasts and on Windows NetFlix.
If you want to build a media PC that works more like a set top box than a PC then Boxee is a great program to try.
They are also pushing a new BoxeeBox which looks really nice. The lack of mass storage and a bit torrent client is a slight downer but for a set top box it looks just about perfect. Well except that case is too cool IMHO. I would like something a bit plainer.
Re:Damn it. (Score:2, Informative)
So you're not allowed to dislike Linux on Slashdot?
Wait, what am I saying? Of course you can't.
Re:What exactly is boxee good for??? (Score:5, Informative)
Previously the web site had a great intro video that actually explained it fairly well. I'm not quite sure when that was changed, but since I've been running the alpha for roughly a year now, I can try taking a stab at it.
Boxee's goal is to be a "social media player" where you can watch media from various sources, see what your friends are watching, and let your friends know what you're watching. By "media" it's referring to TV, movies, music, and pictures. The source of most of the content comes from the Internet (although it definitely supports offline and local network content). Boxee provides a framework to create native applications that allow aggregating and viewing of the online media (basically XBMC plugins if you're familiar with that app), for example there's apps for Hulu, Pandora, Flickr, etc. Boxee automatically monitors what you and your friends watch, and allows you to browse the history of it as well. Boxee also offers other cool features like grabbing metadata for local content. E.g. if it detects a ripped copy of Season 1 of The Office, it will grab screen shots and descriptions of each episode from IMDB.
Personally I've found Boxee's primary benefit is for aggregating media. With the new version, I can search a TV show title and it comes up with all the episodes I can stream regardless of the source (e.g. episodes from Hulu, nbc.com, etc.). I'm not a big fan of the social aspect, but it's not a deal breaker (I just ignore it). So far I've been very impressed with both the alpha and beta releases and would definitely recommend giving the software a go.
Re:What exactly is boxee good for??? (Score:3, Informative)
XBMC gives you a 10 foot interface as well. Boxee on the other hand frustrated my wife something fierce, so I stopped using it. the latest XBMC release absolutely clobbers boxee though if you dont care about any of the social crap or trying to watch youtube and other low grade online media. There is a podcast catcher you can install that grabs the high def podcasts automatically though. She likes that.
Obligatory (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Damn it. (Score:2, Informative)
He said it wasn't a fit for him because it doesn't run the apps he needs/prefers. There's nothing "moronic" about that, nor was any part of his post "whining". You're just furious because he dares to have tastes that differ from yours, so much so that you felt the need to lie about what he said.
Re:What exactly is boxee good for??? (Score:3, Informative)
Great summary, thanks. Now, a question, and I'm not being a smartass: is there any good software that does the exact opposite? I absolutely do not care about the built in social aspects of the software, nor do I use services like Hulu. (Internet connection and computers at home are on the slow side.) I do, however, have an extensive collection of video from various sources--ripped DVDs, captured from a TV card, etc. I just want something that lets me browse this with a good "ten foot interface" and do other useful things. (Playlists, searchable, etc.) I like Apple's Front Row but could go for something a little more powerful. Any suggestions?